


Made It

by pylador19



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, M/M, So much angst, i'm not even sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 01:43:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6353869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pylador19/pseuds/pylador19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day they had been waiting for finally arrives, and yet Eren can't bring himself to celebrate</p>
            </blockquote>





	Made It

**Author's Note:**

> All of this is a result of wanting to write something really angsty and then re-watching AoT and having the idea pop into my mind after watching Armin and Eren share their dream of getting to see the outside. Be warned, there is major character death...

The day had finally come. So many losses, so many setbacks, and the possibility of the day actually happening becoming a slim chance and distant dream for the future with every week that passed by, yet there Eren stood right now. With a light breeze accompanying him and what remained of The Survey Corps, they were stood with the ocean just a few feet away from them. In the not so distant past it was nothing but a farfetched dream, something that was only said to keep morale high, and yet the impossible had been made possible and in one excursion lasting almost half a year, humanity had gained more ground than what was originally thought possible.

Such an occassion, and yet nobody wanted to or couldn't celebrate. Eren knew how significant this was moment was, but he couldn't even bring himself to do something as simple as smile. Such a huge space left empty next to him reminded him of why he wasn't celebrating.

Alnost two weeks had passed and the body still laid wrapped up in the cart. Eren wouldn't have it burnt with the others, ignoring protests of the spread of disease or rate of decomposition, if he was going to say goodbye to Armin he was going to do it in a way he knew both of them would have liked.

It wasn't something they had been prepared for; the forest gave them excellent terrain to move and easily use their manoeuvre gear, Erwin specifically chose this path as it was supposed to be Titan free. A surprise attack from a group of Titan's had sent Armin to his death; a kick into a tree had snapped his spine in half and killed him instantly. Nobody else- not even Eren- had known of his fate until Sasha's screams and Mikasa's cries had alerted him to the full horror of the event unfolding in front of him. Never before had he shifted into his Titan form so quickly. With the mangled remains of the Titan's surrounding him, Eren clung to Armin's lifeless body, praying that this was all some sick dream or prank and that he was still alive. Reality quickly came back to bite him and the sounds of his anguished cries reverberated throughout the forest.

"I can come with you"

Mikasa's offer snaps Eren out of his trance just as Jean and Connie delicately lower Armin's body into the boat

"This is something I have to do alone" Eren replies and Mikasa can only stand back and watch as he climbs into the boat himself and rows out to the depths.

 

 

Far enough from shore, Eren stops rowing and turns to the white lump next to him. He hesitates as he goes to remove the sheet that conceals Armin's face to get one last look at him, but stops himself when he remembers that wrapping a body can only do so much to stop the rate of decomposition. This wasn't how Eren wanted his last memories to be of him. By not allowing his body to be cremated alongside other fallen comrades, it was a race against time to get Armin's body wrapped in something so that the risk of disease was contained. Eren was allowed to keep the body on the condition that he pulled it along in a cart attached to his horse and that if after two weeks he hadn't been buried, Armin would be cremated.

That was no longer an option, nobody had to worry anymore. Armin was going to get the proper send off Eren knew he would have wanted. Deciding against unwrapping the body, Eren instead rests Armin's wrapped head on his knees, taking a shaky breath in before he speaks.

"We're here Armin. We finally made it" he begins looking out in front of him and letting out a bitter laugh "You were so close... _so close_. If only you were here to see it... h-how do I even begin to describe it? It's not just the one shade of blue like we thought it would be, there are some parts that are actually a darker shade than others. I haven't been able to test just how salty it is- Levi's forbidden us from drinking from it... and how beautiful it looks when the sun shines on it, this would definitely have been the part you loved the most"

Eren stops and catches himself as a tear rolls down his cheek and his voice catches. No more crying, not until Armin had been laid to rest, he had cried enough as it was.

"When you were killed, they wanted to burn your body. I didn't, I knew we were close and that they only time I was going to let you go was when we finally got here. Now... now is the time I leave you, but don't worry I will see you again one day, you just need to wait a while longer, okay? I'll make sure that others are able to live our dream, I will rid the world of the Titan's, and I will make sure that people know who you are and just what you've done for them" more tears begin to fall down his cheeks as he leans down and places the lightest of kisses where he thinks Armin's forehead is "So it's one last goodbye and I love you for now, and I'll see you when I get there myself"

With that Eren lowers the body down and holds it over the surface of the water, getting one final glance before he lets go and watches as it sinks into the depths of the ocean. Two hours later when he doesn't come back, Mikasa rows herself out and finds Eren still in the same spot, hands gripping the edge of the body, crying into his lap as he had been an hour before...


End file.
